London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Sep 20, 2025

Police Scotland make repeat visits to break up illegal house parties

Police Scotland make repeat visits to break up illegal house parties

Police Scotland's latest data on Covid breaches reveals that officers are repeatedly visiting the same properties to break up parties.


At the beginning of the university year, police were called out to a student halls of residence in Edinburgh

The call logs, which have been obtained by BBC Scotland, also show that a number of people have been handed multiple fines.

On 28 August the police were given the power to break up house parties contravening social gathering rules.

Since that date, officers have been called out nearly 5,000 times.

Police break up hundreds of parties every week

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made it clear that giving Police Scotland enhanced powers was necessary to ensure socialising continued in a safe and responsible manner.

The data, received through a Freedom of Information request, listed incidents which included:

*  a party of 10 people found at a Glasgow address, where the householder had previously been issued with two fixed penalty notices (FPNs)

*  in the north east six people were warned after being found at two different parties in the same evening

*  officers attended a Glasgow address following a report of a noisy party. Fines were issued to five people - four of whom had previously received Covid-related fines

*  in Ayrshire people attempted to jump out of the windows of a property when police arrived. This was the second time officers had attended the address having previously issued a fine to the householder

*  and police went to a Renfrewshire address where they gave fines to two party-goers who had previously been issued with a warning

At the mid-November point, 68% of house parties had taken place in council areas under tier three restrictions, and 28% in tier two areas.

Police Scotland declined to comment on whether such incidents suggested fixed penalty notices had failed to be a sufficient deterrent.

'Spreading the virus'


Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said: "Where officers encounter wilful and persistent breaches they will act decisively to enforce the law - this includes consideration of serious charges including culpable and reckless conduct.

"The chief constable has repeatedly underlined that house parties and relatively small gatherings can have a significant influence on spreading the virus and are not permitted."



Police data showed that officers had been alerted to 4,879 gatherings between 28 August and 22 November.

In the first part of November police attended about 300 incidents each week with 227 of them deemed to have breached restrictions.

However, the force has suggested the number is likely to be greater as it only counted formal call-outs and not incidents on patrol.

So far, more than 2,000 fines have been issued and 279 arrests have been made.



The information also revealed that the proportion of parties breaching restrictions is increasing in areas like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Tayside.

Police Scotland said "it will continue to explain the rules to the public and encourage people to take personal responsibility and do the right thing".



In the week covering Halloween and Bonfire Night, 84% of the 365 parties that took place were in breach of coronavirus restrictions.

The incidents included:

*  officers attending a Glasgow party where they found three people who had been tested for Covid-19 earlier that day - but had not yet received their results

*  in Tayside a fight broke out when police attended a house party with 60 "intoxicated" people

*  police were tipped off about a party in Glasgow with 200 people present and loud music playing. Officers said none of them were wearing face masks or socially distancing. More than 60 fines were issued

*  and more than 20 people attended a Dundee party, with many of them escaping through the back garden when police arrived

A Scottish government spokesman said: "Ministers have been consistently clear that we want to see these laws work through high levels of public compliance, rather than relying on enforcement."

Social media advertising


There has also been concerns that large-scale parties are being promoted on social media platforms.

Police document highlights included:

*  Forth Valley police being alerted to an on-going party outside Bonnybridge which had been advertised on social media. On arriving, officers found a 48-seater bus, numerous cars outside and more than 100 party-goers

*  and the police were called to an Edinburgh party where the location was disclosed 24 hours before the event.

'I won't be paying fines just for meeting my friends'


"Kate" has been issued four fines totalling £1,240 for attending illegal house parties across Glasgow.

But she insists she won't be paying "just for meeting my friends through a lockdown with rules that don't make sense anyway".

Her most recent fine was for £940.

"That's the one I'm most annoyed about as the police officers were awful to everyone in the party," she says. "They were trying to make us feel scared."

Despite Police Scotland's insistence on warning first and fining later, Kate says when officers arrived "they just started giving out the fines even though we would have been happy to leave."

She says she has been fined for going to small gatherings, as well as house parties with up to 60 people.

"But that's the fault of the people renting out the flats and houses for allowing us to go in the first place," she says.

She's also not worried about transmitting or contracting coronavirus at the events.

"I've been to multiple parties and not one person I know has had it from the parties".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders Third Lethal Strike on Drug-Trafficking Vessel as U.S. Expands Maritime Counter-Narcotics Operations
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
Why Google Search Is Fading and AI Is Taking Its Place
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Federal Judge Dismisses Trump’s Fifteen-Billion-Dollar Suit Against New York Times, Orders Refile
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
DeepSeek Claims R1 Model Trained for only $294,000, Sparking Global Debate Over China’s AI Capabilities
SoftBank Vision Fund to Cut Nearly Twenty Percent of Staff in Bold AI Strategy Shift
Intel’s Next-Gen Manufacturing Gets a Lifeline from Nvidia’s Strategic $5B Deal
Erika Kirk Elected CEO of Turning Point USA After Husband Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
×